Hate crime charge dropped in Staten Island beating of Mexican immigrant; fight was over pot

BY Oren Yaniv
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Tuesday, September 14th 2010, 11:11 AM

A Staten Island beating that sparked outrage as a bias attack turns out to have been just a fight over pot.

Prosecutors dropped hate-crime and other charges against a teenager accused of robbing and assaulting a Mexican immigrant after the alleged victim confessed that the incident started when he asked for change on a $10 marijuana buy.

The July 31 beat-down of Christian Vazquez, 18, came on the heels of several other attacks on Hispanics in the borough and sparked increased police presence, community outreach and condemnations from elected officials.

But Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan announced Tuesday that all charges, including assault and robbery as hate crimes, will be dismissed against Derrian Williams, also known as Romeo Stevens.

"The cause of the attack on Mr. Vazquez was not based on ethnicity or nationality, but rather a deal involving marijuana in which a dispute occurred afterward," Donovan said.

Vazquez failed to mention the drug deal when talking to police, prosecutors or the grand jury. But on Aug. 11, Detective Ricardo Rivera took him to look for more suspects and sensed the victim was withholding some details, Donovan said.

Vazquez then revealed that he bought pot from someone and asked for $5 in change before being set upon by up to five men whom he could not identify.

Since the accuser's credibility is now tainted, prosecutors decided to dismiss all charges against Williams. They will not pursue perjury charges against Vazquez because he didn't lie to the grand jury, just omitted details, Donovan said.

Vazquez is refusing to speak with the authorities anymore. His lawyer Joseph O'Shea to declined comment.

In an interview after the attack, Vazquez told the Daily News, "They started kicking me, calling me wetback, f------ Mexican, all these things. I thought I was gonna die that night."

Arrests were made in five of the 11 bias attacks on Staten Island since April. Grand juries declined to accept the hate-crime elements in three cases, prosecutors didn't pursue them in another case and dismissed the charges completely in the Vazquez case, Donovan said.

"I ask all members of our community to exercise restraint in pre-judging these incidents," Donovan said.

Despite being cleared, Williams left Staten Island Supreme Court in handcuffs because he is being held on an unrelated case in Family Court, according to his lawyer Gregory Clarke.

Clarke says his client is 14; prosecutors say 17.

"He's happy," Clarke said of Williams. "These were serious charges."

He said Williams arrived in the U.S. as a toddler from Liberia when his family received asylum status.

oyaniv@nydailynews.com

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